Azadi March, A Ticking Time-Bomb?

Ultimatums have been quite a frequent occurrence in the Islamabad Azadi March. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, gave the prime minister until Sunday (November 2) for a resignation. If he didn’t resign before the deadline, the JUI-F leader warned, that his supporters would be willing to do whatever is necessary to remove the 14-month old government.

The very same day (November 2), eight individuals were also arrested for waving the Afghan Taliban’s flag (An openly terrorist faction) at the JUI-F’s Azadi March in Islamabad. These flags can be clearly seen in various recordings of Azadi March aired by media. Maulana Ghafoor Haider refused to have any knowledge regarding any such flags on Azadi March. However, the Azadi March organizers demanded that the eight ‘innocent’ workers be released immediately otherwise they would have to break their pact with the government.

In the most recent speech, the prime minister was warned by Maulana that the people could force their way into the PM house and “arrest” the prime minister if their demands were not met. Foul language was also a common occurrence in Maulana Fazl’s address on Sunday (November 3) at which point various news channels felt the need to mute the audio of the live broadcast because of the vulgar language.

Regarding the timeline of Azadi March; Maulana stated that they planned to stay in Islamabad as long as it was required. In his anti government speech, it was indicated strongly that his supporters would be willing to use violence to force the prime minister to resign. It is a cause of great concern especially in case JUI-F decides to leave their designated protest venue and spread out into the city to force the government to leave office.

Since these new developments, the opposition parties have been reluctant to back the next JUI-F move. A meeting is set to take place today (November 4) at the Model Town residence of Shahbaz Sharif to discuss the national political situation and a multiparty conference that is going to be held by the JUI-F leader. It was also revealed by senior party officials that some members of the CEC will also be part of the meeting taking place on November 4. When asked, if PML-N was going to be joining the sit in, an official stated that is was highly unlikely, arguing that it would further promote the ‘bad’ precedent set by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf to oust an elected government through street power.

“What they (PTI) did to our government calls for a tit-for-tat response. But we don’t want to cement a bad precedent particularly, when we as the government in-waiting see ourselves the only option for the people due to failure of the PTI in resolving the problems being faced by the country and the masses.”

The young PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto also told the media in Bahawalpur that his party whole-heartedly supported all the demands of Azadi march from the very first day but still it was not part of the sit-in. When asked about the “arresting the prime minister” comment he defended the JUI-F chief’s statement, stating that Maulana Fazl had not announced any such action to be taken and had merely given a political statement.

Many are expecting the JUI-F gathering to remain peaceful during their stay in the capital; however some are also concerned that the JUI-F crowd is very much capable of turning violent. Only the course of time can tell how this will play out.